Endotherms 6 Flashcards
What life style does the organisation of the nervous system most commonly reflect?
The level and requirement of the organism to move
What are the information processing steps and what branches of the nervous system are responsible for these?
Stage 1 involves sensory input and is performed by peripheral nervous system
Stage 2 involves integration of this information and is performed by the central nervous system this will determine an appropriate response
Stage 3 is the motor output performed by the peripheral nervous system
What is the key anatomical difference between the bird and mammalian nervous system?
They have the same number of cranial nerves but a different number of spinal nerves
What are the key features of vertebrate nervous system?
Vertebrates are craniates with a backbone they have a well-developed central nervous system and a regionally specialised nervous system
There is an unsegmented dorsal nerve cord which is hollow showing chordate roots
CNS contains cerebrospinal fluid, white matter and grey matter
The segmented organisation is clear outside the spinal cord
What are the characteristics of the peripheral nervous system?
This is segmented with dendrites projecting onto synapses
Contains cranial nerves which originate in the brain and serve the area of the head and upper body
Spinal nerves which originate from the spinal cord and serves areas below the head
What are the functional units the peripheral nervous system is split into?
Somatic (voluntary) and autonomic (involuntary)
The autonomic can be further divided into the sympathetic, parasympathetic and enteric systems
What are the key features of the central nervous system of warm blooded vertebrates?
They have a spinal cord which is responsible for spinal reflexes, relays sensory and motor information and has a high level of autonomy in vertebrates
It also contains the brain which is divided into three functional units the forebrain which contains the diencephalon and telencephalon, the mid brain or mesencephalon and the hindbrain containing the myelencephalon and metencephalon
What are the functions of the brain stem?
This region contains the mid brain and hind brain and is important for homeostasis, coordination of movement and information relay
The medulla controls breathing, heart and blood vessel activity as well as swallowing and digestion
This is where information cross-over occurs
It is a relay and integration centre containing the inferior colliculus which is the main centre for vision in non-mammalian vertebrates
What is the cerebellum?
This is formed from the hindbrain and is responsible for co-ordination and error checking during motor, perceptual and cognitive functions
It is responsible for learning and remembering motor skills
Receives input from sensory and motor nerves as well as visual and auditory centres and cerebrum
Integrates all this information to give control
What is the diencephalon?
This is part of the forebrain and contains the epithalamus which contains the pineal gland and clusters of capillaries which produce CSF
The thalamus which integrates information from sensory inputs and outpus from the motor, emotion and arousal areas of the cerebrum
The hypothalamus which plays a key role in homeostatic regulation via hormone release including control of the biological clock via suprachiasmatic nuclei
What is the cerebrum?
This is an outgrowth of the forebrain and is divided into left and right hemispheres
It contains a cortex which analyses sensory information, issues motor commands and generates language this is the most complex area in humans
It contains the basal nuclei for planning and learning sequences
Contains the neocortex which is the surface of the cortex this is highly convoluted in mammals (not in birds) and associated with higher cognitive function in higher mammals
What is contained in the frontal lobe?
The frontal association area, speech and motorcortex regions
What is contained in the temporal lobe?
Smell, hearing and auditory association area
What is contained in the parietal lobe?
Somatosensory cortex, speech, taste, reading and somatosensory association areas
What is contained in the occipital lobe?
Visual association area and vision
